Denver sex assault charges dropped against Vancouver Island man

Sexual assault charges against a Port Alberni man lodged following a football road trip to Denver have been dropped.

The Denver District Attorney’s office announced the decision in a media release Monday.

“New information developed in this case that led to a determination that those charges could no longer be proven beyond a reasonable doubt,” the release states.”They were dismissed today.”

Colby James Messer, 30, was charged last April with six counts of sexual assault following an incident at a Denver hotel. Four of those charges were then dropped in August after a preliminary hearing.

He pled not guilty on Oct. 3 to two counts of sexual assault and overcoming the victim’s will.

According to Colorado court documents, Messer was accused of assaulting a 27-year-old female late at night on Nov. 14, 2015 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Denver.

In statements to the police, the victim said she had been drinking with Messer and several of his companions before ending up in the hotel room, adding that she did not know how she got there.

The victim told police that she was left bleeding after being assaulted with several objects in the hotel room. She left the hotel room and went to a hospital, where she reported the assault to the Denver Police Department.

Denver District Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Lynn Kimbrough stated that Messer was arrested on March 4 in Las Vegas upon returning to the U.S.

Messer waived his rights to extradition and appeared in in the Denver County Courtroom on March 23 for his first advisement.

Prior to Monday’s announcement, Messer had been slated to appear in Denver court again on Nov. 28. His bail conditions had been lessened to $200,000 bond and he was allowed to reside in Seattle with no GPS monitoring.

Three other men from Vancouver Island were also considered suspects in the investigation but charges were never laid against them.